A friend had his identity stolen, so I’m concerned.
What information is available about individuals on the Internet? Can I remove mine?
A: There could be a fair amount of information about you online. Much of it is in databases – for instance, court records.
The information has always been available, but was inconvenient to find before the Internet. Many things can be removed. I have a link at komando.com/news to a column that explains that. Also, try using a search site such as Google.com. You may find results for sites on which you are mentioned. Contact those webmasters and ask them to remove you.
Q: I’d like to transfer my old cassette tapes to my computer. Is that possible?
A: Yes. Connect your line-out plugs on the tape deck to the line-in plug on your computer. The two line-out jacks probably take RCA plugs.
Most computer line-in jacks take a single 1/8-inch plug. Buy a Y adapter at an electronics store. The cassettes are analog, so the music must be converted to digital and recorded by using a program such as Audacity. I have instructions for Audacity on my site.
Audacity creates WAV files, which are uncompressed and big. You can compress them to MP3s with the LAME encoder. I have all links at komando.com/news.
Q: I need to enter an essay contest. That entails attaching a Word file to the e-mail I send. How do I attach the Word file?
A: All e-mail programs allow attachments. And they’re all easy.
There are many, so I can’t describe them all. I’ll go through Microsoft Outlook and Yahoo. First, save your Microsoft Word document and close it.
In Microsoft Outlook, click New. Fill out the e-mail. Click the Attach File button. Navigate to the Word document and click it. Click Insert. Click Send.
In Yahoo, click Compose. Fill out the e-mail and click Attach Files. Click Browse and navigate to the file. Click the file and Open. Click Attach Files. Click Continue to Message. Click Send.
Q: I prefer to keep cookies off of my computer. Can I just delete them? How can I find them?
A: To find them in Internet Explorer, click Start, then Control Panel. Double- click Internet Options. Under “Browsing history,” click Settings. Click View Files.
Select and delete any items in the list. In Mozilla’s Firefox, click Tools, then Options. Select the Privacy tab. Click Show Cookies. You’ll see options to delete individual or all cookies.
Q: I have loads of security programs, for which I pay a pretty penny. Are there free programs that are acceptable? And what do I need?
A: You need an antivirus program, a firewall and anti-spyware software. You also must keep Windows updated. There are numerous free programs that are good. I run three anti-spyware programs on my computers. They do not conflict. However, antivirus programs will conflict, so run just one. I also run only one firewall.
Beware of “free” spyware scans offered online. Many will give you false positives to sell you their programs. I have links to free programs at komando.com/news.
Contact Kim Komando at gnstech@gns.gannett.com.
